January 11, 2012 Meeting
Welcome USMC 'Old Breed' veteran of the Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa campaigns with the 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division holder of the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat.
Joe Perrin experienced heavy losses of comrades during the campaigns and especially during the capture of Sugar Loaf on Okinawa.
Previous December 14, 2011 Meeting
Russell Scott's B-25 bomber flying out of Corsica was shot down over Italy on his second mission flying as the tail gunner.
He survived thirteen months as a POW in Stalag Luft 111 having never received treatment for his broken back suffered in his parachute landing.
Previous November 9, 2011 Meeting
USMC Earl Tatum braved heavy Japanese fire wading to shore some 500 yards from where LCI 's could not cross coral reef for the opening assault on Tarawa 68 years ago.
His division suffered 40% casualties capturing an island 1/2 the size of Central Park in New York in this three day bloody battle
Previous October 12, 2011 Meeting
Five veterans of the ground war in the Battle of the Bulge will share their experiences in a round table discussion later to be joined by a P-47 Fighter-Bomber pilot whose first mission was during the Battle of the Bulge.
Previous September 14, 2011 Meeting
Ella
E. Schneider's father was taken away in the night by the NKVD never to
return. Thus began the life of a 5 year old Displaced Person in the
Ukraine and then Germany before becoming an Indentured Servant picking
cotton in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
Previous August 10, 2011 Meeting
Hans
Oppe 's city was bombed out and he became a refugee as an infant.. He
never knew his German soldier father who lies in an unmarked grave
somewhere in Romania.
Hans lived in both the east and the west side of the Berlin Wall and recounts first hand experiences.
Previous July 13, 2011 Meeting
USMC combat wounded veteran of the Guam campaign and wounded veteran of the Okinawa campaign, Ralph Phipps goes ashore with the first troops landing in Japan facing an unknown reception from Japanese troops and armed civilians.
Previous June 8, 2011 Meeting
Lou Carater enlisted in the USMC at age 16 six months prior the attack on Pearl Harbor and served with the 4th Marine Raider Battalion known as Roosevelt's Raiders commanded by the oldest son of President Roosevelt.
After Tulagi and Guadacanal, Cpl. Caraker as squad leader was classified as "unfit for further combat duty".
Previous May 11 Meeting
A foot soldier's experiences in the Battle of the Bulge and afterward.
Previous April 13, 2011
Jimmy Boehling, B-17 Navigator was the only survivor of the crew's mission over Germany and his plane was the last plane of his group lost in the war.
Some random recent veteran's interviews and/or comments
Dan Dorchak flew with the Flying Tigers 308th Bomb Group in China and awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Air Medals and the Purple Heart.
Kenneth Rowe On his 12th mission his "Miss Francia" B-24 was hit by flak losing #3 and #4 engines with a fire in #2 engine.
The crew bailed out, were captured and ended up as POW's until the end of the war.
Lt. General (Ret) George Loving P-51 fighter ace flew 101 missions in the British Spitfire and 50 missions in the P-51 B in the Mediterranean and ETO campaigns.
Cal Moore flew the glider into Normandy on D Day and later flew the Market Garden and Crossing of The Rhine missions.
Ray Arsenault Air Force Port Moresby, New Guinea etc.
"had a new group of pilots come in and they built a fire to drink some beer around but did not put the fire out when the party was over. The Japs bombed the smoldering fire that night and we lost eleven killed including my best friend who was cut in half in a foxhole".
Angelo Melluso Army North Africa, Italy, France,Germany
"at Casino I would take a jeep up to the front and deliver some food and clothes to my buddy. My last trip I learned he was killed. I didn't go up there anymore".
Bill Busby BEF in France
"we didn't have any information. We only drove at night and hid in the woods during the day. Finally they told us to evacuate out of Brest as Dunkirk was over with. The ship that left before mine was sunk"
Ronald Kilmer- P-47 pilot Battle of the Bulge and Germany
"they called me flak bait because I returned with so many holes in my aircraft after strafing missions. We shot up everything we saw - trains, tanks, troops, guns, aircraft".
Ralph Phipps USMC Guam and Okinawa Campaigns
"that's the way it is, the lack of sleep, hunger, the constant
combat, the smells, the killing, the Banzai charges, the hand to hand combat, the losses".
Phil True, Air Force B-29 navigator on bombing missions over Japan...
"my life was saved by the Marines who gave their lives taking that ugly piece of rock and sand Iwo Jima".
Bill Levy, B-24 navigator shot down over Yugoslavia
"seeing the number of people here tonight on this rainy, miserable night is a tribute to this World War 11 Round Table. I salute you"
James Kelley, B-17 gunner POW
"traded $100.00 watch for a piece of cheese, bread and sausage on our 87 day forced march as POW"
Erwin Harlfinger-paratrooper
"wake up America" message after his experiences as a member of the Hitler Youth and paratrooper and POW in the states and later becoming an American citizen and physician.
L. Peter Wrenn, USNR USS Bassett
"all told, we picked up 148 oil-covered sailors, half dead from exhaustion, hunger and thirst (of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis).
Cornelia Warmenhoven
"in the Netherland's resistance, we had many signals. For instance, if we rode our bicycle sitting up straight, it sent one signal; if we rode hunched over, it sent another signal".
